New AAA station in Northeast/Central Missouri

104.3 KKAC Vandalia/Hannibal, MO has returned to the air after an extended period of being dark with a new AAA format called "104.3 FMX," and has kicked off with 10,000 Commercial Free Songs. Music mix is about 60% 90s to today and 40% classics of the 70s and 80s. We aren't streaming yet, but we will be as soon as they get the internet put in at the station later on in the week. http://1043fmx.com. The station's signal can be heard West to Macon and Moberly, North to Canton, MO; East to Jacksonville, and South to the far western and northern St. Louis suburbs in Lincoln and Warren County, and includes the entire Hannibal/Quincy market in its signal.

Sample Hour:
Sam Roberts Band - Human Heat
Panic! at The Disco - This is Gospel
David Bowie - Lets Dance
War on Drugs - Red Eyes
Silversun Pickups - Kissing Families
Scott H Biram - Gotta Get to Heaven
Eurythmics - Talk to Me Like Lovers Do
Jack White - Lazaretto
Ram Jam - Black Betty
Phantogram - Fall in Love
U2 - Pride (In the name of love)
The Smiths - How Soon is Now
Walk off the Earth - Red Hands
Grouplove - Shark Attack
Zombies - Time of the Season
Damon Albarn - Mr. Tembo

And, like so many radio stations Randy Wachter operates (or doesn't), this station is apparently also off the air.

I'm left wondering why Wachter went to so much trouble putting on radio stations only to have all of them go dark. There's 93.3 (First KNSX now KQQX) Steelville, moving their COL to Hermann, and being off the air for at least four years. Then there's the former KLPW-FM Union on 101.7, a station which had a long standing mainstream country format (using the Jones "Great American Country" format). Wachter bought it, and was part of a large frequency swap/COL change that allowed KTUI-FM to move and upgrade from 100.9 to 102.1, and allowed KLPW-FM to change their COL to Elsberry and their calls to KXQX. That station lasted less than a year and it has been dark since 2011. There's also 107.3 Cuba, MO which now uses the calls of KLPW-FM, and it too is dark.

What kind of business model is this? At the very least, one could lease out these frequencies to someone who might be able to make a go of it.

Wachter is a nice guy, but an enigma. I enjoyed working with him, it was fun but the main problem is he lost his financial backing and lacks the rescources to staff the stations and pay the bills. Randy no longer owns 107.3 at Cuba, and it has been back on the air the last year or so with ESPN Sports. KQQX made it on the air for a day at Hermann long enough to keep the license hot. Generally he flips them on just often enough to keep the licenses alive. I tried to make a go of it in Vandalia, but one guy can't shoulder a whole station without much support from the ownership. As for 101.7, it was a situation where Randy was keeping the license warm for Marathon Media, who owned it and was paid by Bonneville to move it to Elsberry a substantial sum of money. It was billing $25k a month when it was in Union running the local Action Country format, and paying the bills for the rest of the stations. All the advertisers were lost when it moved to Elsberry, and Marathon sold it to Randy at a fire sale price. By then things had gotten complicated about the 93.3 move, so the alternative format ended up on 101.7. Studios were at the Economic Development Center in St Charles. But around that time, Randy lost his backing and couldn't get any sales people out to sell. 93.3 and 101.7 could be a very profitable combo in the right hands. 107.3 seems to be doing OK for Eckelkamp who owns it and KLPW AM after he reposessed them. There are a lot of stories, and a lot of bad luck for Randy over the last few years, I can't say he isn't somewhat to blame but he has had a lot of bad luck and bad health too.